Second half of The Summit Season Starts with NDSU

South Dakota State closed the first half of The Summit League season last weekend with a pair of 3-0 losses to preseason co-favorites IUPUI on Friday and Fort Wayne on Saturday, but the Jackrabbits look for a fresh start this Saturday, as they open the second half of The Summit League season against North Dakota State.

The Jackrabbits and Bison get started from Frost Arena at 7 p.m.

The Last Time Out; vs. Fort Wayne; Oct. 19 – The South Dakota State volleyball team closed the weekend with a 3-0 loss to Summit League preseason co-favorite and defending league champion Fort Wayne on Saturday night, falling to the visiting Mastodons by the set scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-19.

“I thought our energy and effort was much better tonight compared to last night. We made a few too many errors and we have to get better kill efficiency from our attacker,” head coach Phil McDaniel said. “We’ve got a week to fix what I see as small issues, but there are several issues that we have to address this week.”

The loss drops the Jackrabbits to 3-17 on the season overall and to 1-6 in The Summit League. Fort Wayne improves to 11-12 overall and to 3-4 in the league.

Defending Summit League Player of the Year Emily Spencer led all players in the match with 20 kills, adding nine digs, a solo block and a block assist for the Mastodons in the win. Kendall Wienkes added 16 kills for the ‘Dons.

Tiara Gibson and Wagner Larson both finished with six kills to lead the Jackrabbits. Gibson also added four block assists and Larson two block assists in the loss.

Lexi Fowler finished with 19 set assists and came up two digs shy of a double-double with eight digs.

THE JACKRABBIT EXTRA ON GoJacks.com – Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can watch all SDSU home matches and select road matches streaming live on the internet.

To subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log onto GoJacks.com and click on “Live Events” at the top of the page and then click on "SIGN UP NOW"

THE JACKRABBIT INSIDER ON KELOLAND-TV – Fans of South Dakota State Athletics can get a weekly behind-the-scenes look at all 21 Jackrabbit varsity sports teams by tuning into "The Jackrabbit Insider.”

Hosted by Tyler Merriam, the show airs on Sundays on MyUTV at 10:30 p.m., followed by broadcasts on Sunday at 11 p.m. on KELOLAND-TV and on Fox Sports North on Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

FOWLER CLIMBS CAREER SET ASSISTS CHARTS – Senior setter Lexi Fowler started her senior season ranked ninth all-time at SDSU with 1,897 career set assists, but moved up one spot to eighth, and enters the weekend with 2,412 for her career, 135 shy of passing Melia Iwamoto (2,546 set assists from 2007-08) for seventh on the all-time list.

FOWLER RECORDS A TRIPLE-DOUBLE – Senior setter Lexi Fowler posted her first-career triple-double in a 3-2 win at Drake on Sept. 7, with 12 kills, 48 set assists and 14 digs. Fowler becomes the first Jackrabbit to score a triple-double since Amy Anderson accomplished the feat in a 3-0 win over Western Illinois at The Summit League Championships on Nov. 16, 2007, when she finished with 11 kills, 10 digs and 10 total blocks.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT

North Dakota State Bison (2-18, 2-5 Summit) – The struggling Bison picked up their second win of the season last Friday with a 3-1 win over the defending Summit League Tournament champion Fort Wayne Mastodons in Fargo, N.D., with their only other win being a 3-1 win over South Dakota State in both team’s Summit League opener on Sept. 28.

The Bison followed up that win with a 3-0 loss to IUPUI on Saturday.

The Series vs. NDSU – The Bison lead the all-time series with South Dakota State by a

67-19 margin, with wins in 10 of the last 12 matches, dating back to the 2007 season. The two SDSU wins in that span came in a pair 3-1 wins on Nov. 6, 2010, and on Sept. 16, 2012, both in Frost Arena.

The Last Meeting: Sept. 28, 2013; Fargo, N.D. – Wagner Larson finished with 20 kills and hit .405 (20-3-42) in South Dakota State’s Summit League opener at North Dakota State, but four Bison players posted double figure kills in a 3-1 North Dakota State victory in Fargo, N.D.

The loss, by the set scores of 19-25, 18-25, 26-24 and 19-25, dropped the Jackrabbits to 2-11 on the season overall and to 1-0 in league play, while the Bison improved to 1-12 overall and to 1-0 in the league.

In addition to Larson and her 20 kills, the Jacks got nine kills each from Tiara Gibson and Mikala Hora. Gibson hit .438 (9-2-16) and added a solo block and two block assists. Palmer led the defense with 16 kills, while Lexi Fowler posted a double-double with 44 set assists and 14 digs.